There is feminist principle for assessing literature and movies called the Bechdel test; maybe you’ve heard of it? It asks whether and how often the work features at least two woman—with names—talking about something other than a man.
So let me say right up front, that the Bible does not fare well on the Bechdel test. … Read the rest
Continue reading "If You See Something, Say Something" »I’ve been away from St. Stephen’s a lot recently, so unless you’re directly involved in adult education—which is part of my diocesan day job and mostly what I’m called to do here—I’ve been missing you. But there’s a lot of great new adult classes starting soon, so stay tuned for opportunities to grow in faith. We’ll have … Read the rest
Continue reading "Pretenders to the Throne" »Let me tell you a story. It’s a story that’s been around for a while so probably you know it. It begins with space, a beautiful deep space that was made sacred because the Spirit of God hovered over its face. To make something sacred is to sacrifice it—that’s the Latin root of sacri-fice—and so the earth was … Read the rest
Continue reading "The Sacrificial Yes" »
“In the quantum world, relationship is the key determiner of everything. Subatomic particles come into form . . . only as they are in relationship to something else. There are no ‘basic building blocks’ . . . These unseen connections between what were previously thought to be separate entities are the fundamental ingredient of all creation.”
So writes … Read the rest
Continue reading "Quantum Calling" »Some years ago I embarked on a long retreat with a new spiritual director, and at our first session he asked me how and how often I pray. Seems like a reasonable question for a spiritual director to ask, but somehow it made me feel a bit like I do when the dentist asks me how often I … Read the rest
Continue reading "Impressed with Prayer" »Grace Cathedral Choral Evensong
I bring you greetings on behalf of Bishop Marc Andrus. And together with him, I give thanks for the 100-plus year ministry of St. Dorothy’s Rest. My thanks are professional—I have the pleasure of working with Katie Evenbeck and her outstanding team—and also personal. Let me start with the latter. I … Read the rest
The other day I was cleaning out my wallet and I found a Band-Aid. Which mostly tells you that I don’t clean out my wallet very often. It had probably been there for ten years, which is about the last time when I was in the business of regularly patching up my children’s abrasions. But finding it brought … Read the rest
Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2007 bestselling memoir, Eat Pray Love, is a kind of spiritual travelogue. If you read it or watched the movie, you may recall that she recovers from a messy divorce by traveling to Italy to eat, then to India to pray, and finally to Bali to fall in love. It’s a kind of chick-lit classic, … Read the rest
I don’t know about you, but I really struggle to imagine how Jesus could ride into Jerusalem on both a donkey and a colt. It might be a first world problem: I drive a car and I don’t have much experience riding animals, so that makes it especially hard for me to envision what it would be like … Read the rest
“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the
observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denia
l; and by reading and
meditating on God’s holy Word.” Did y’all happen to hear that exhortation on Ash Wednesday last week? How’s all the prayer, fasting and self-denial going for you?
On the … Read the rest
Continue reading "Become What You Are" »
